Alankarams 1

Alankarams are exercises that illustrate the different talams. The previous post on talam explained the patterns and how they are named. This post, lists the first set of alankarams starting from what I think is the the simplest/easiest to the hardest. The order may be different from beginner books

Guidelines:

• For now, practice these exercises in Mayamalavagowlai
• Practice the exercises with slides and by just plain picking
• Ideally all exercises should be first practiced at 1st speed (tempo 60-70 BPM) - meaning one note per beat. Followed by 2nd speed (2 notes per beat) and 3rd speed (4 notes per beat this will be hard). 
• Practice the  exercises in all three octaves
• Third speed is hard to sing or play on an instrument. So it would be ok to skip that initially and get back to it later, after you have more experience (of course purists will disagree).

Exercise 1: Chathurasra Jathi Eka Thalam

Eka Talam = L

Chaturasra = laghu is 4 beats

Total number of beats in a cycle = 4

S R G M || R G M P || G M P D || M P D N || P D N S' ||
S' N D P || N D P M || D P M G || P M G R || M G R S ||

Remember the notes that are underlined have to be played with continuous slides. So for S R G M pick S and slide to R G M and P

Exercise 2: Sankeerna Jathi Eka Thalam

Eka talam = L

Sankeerna = laghu is 9 beats

Total number of beats in cycle = 9

S , R , G , M P D || R , G , M , P D N || G , M , P , D N S' ||

S' , N , D , P M G || N , D , P , M G R || D , P , M , G R S ||

Remember the symbol "," means the previous note it held for 1 more beat. So the notation S , is to pick S on a beat and hold note for one more beat.

This alankaram is difficult to play at 2nd and 3rd speed because the cycle is an odd number (9) and in alternate cycles the notes will fall off beat.